Trump picks Jerome Powell as next Fed chair

Washington, Nov 3 (IANS) US President Donald Trump has announced he will nominate Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell as the head of the American central bank.

He will replace Janet Yellen as Chair of the Federal Reserve.

Powell, a lawyer and former US Treasury official, will be the first Fed chair in three decades without a Ph.D. in economics.

The President had settled on Powell by October 28 and spoke with him on Tuesday, Xinhua news agency earlier quoted The Wall Street Journal as saying.

Trump had recently concluded interviews of five candidates for the next Fed chair, including Powell, Stanford University economist John Taylor, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, White House National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn and current Fed Chair Janet Yellen, whose term expires next February.